Cleveland Museum of Art

Lot and His Daughters

Jan Georg van Vliet

Date

1631

Medium

etching and engraving

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

As a cautionary tale on the dangers of lust and alcohol, the biblical narrative of Lot and his daughters held appeal for artists, but it also raised complex questions about duty, sacrifice, and free will. In Rembrandt van Rijn’s version (etched here by Jan Georg van Vliet), the artist presented us with an inebriated older Lot, whose drunken expression is reminiscent of a patron at a local tavern. His daughters supply alcohol with coarse amusement. The loosened bodice and escaping bosom of the central female figure likely signaled her lapsed morals to contemporary viewers.

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